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THE TECH SAVY DESERT RAT

Feb 15, 2022Featured, News

“Give a man an iPad and you amuse him for a day. Teach a man to use an iPad and you give him work for a lifetime” – ancient DCQ proverb.
DCQ Field Supervisor, Peter Spence, is one of those blokes who decided to keep up with the ‘modern technology’.
 
Spending most of his life in the Desert Uplands, north of Muttaburra, it’s only in the last ten years that Pete has really had the opportunity to cover the whole of the region as part of the DCQ team.
 
He, like all our staff, possesses a broad set of skills that is combined with practical science and applied across a range of projects.
 

Team out, data in

Pete’s time is spent liaising with our landholders and coordinating the work of the field team but also, crucially, he is part of the team of people who measure the outcome of the projects we do, which provides the learnings we apply.
 
iPads are not just toys for us. They’ve become critical tools in recording our data and helping us to refine our mapping.
 
Now that this region has received some rain, landholders are reporting that their native pasture is finally poking its head up.
 
As the creeks subside and property roads are graded, DCQ staff are heading out to key sites to measure the recovery, learn from our research and development work, and look for emergent weeds.
 
As Peter and the team are out, data from our work sites is coming in as we help you invest in the natural resources of the Desert Channels region.
field officer on iPad

MAKING THE LAND MORE PRODUCTIVE: REHABILITATION AFTER DROUGHT

Controlling erosion and pasture rehabilitation: Daryl Hill gives practical demonstrations in workshops across the DCQ Region

Free ‘half-day’ veg management & mapping workshops

Get your head around thinning, infrastructure, fire management and encroachment clearing codes in the Desert Channels region.

Free property mapping workshop using Avenza Maps – no expertise required

Learn how to use the Avenza Maps app to navigate, collect data and map your property all without mobile reception.

Emergency Plan

The BANC Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan outlines preparedness response and recovery actions for each asset with the aim of reducing the impact of catastrophic events.

Springs

Lying beneath parts of the Northern Territory, Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales, the Great Artesian Basin, (GAB) is Australia’s largest groundwater basin and one of the largest underground freshwater resources in the world.

HEAT

An environmental project focused on high value areas, properties that surround National Parks, or refugia that support crucial species migration in a changing climate.

Watertight

The Queensland Government has established the WaterTight program to be carried out by the Natural Resource Management groups

Feral Pigs

Feral pigs devastate environmental, livestock and natural resources, and only a targeted and coordinated control effort will keep numbers down for good.

THORNVILLE QUANDARY

When pastures don’t return as expected.

SUCCESS IN THE MAKING

With the summer rain, plants are now leaping out of the ground.

SEEDY BUSINESS

Sometimes, even mother nature needs a hand. Having perfected Prickly Acacia control, we have begun seeding work to “turbo charge” pasture recovery.

IS DIESEL BECOMING A THING OF THE PAST?

The increased cost of diesel, along with its health and environmental issues, has opened the door for a new kind of herbicide.